1969 911 S Strähle invoice

[Lorenzo]

Maybe this S is still alive?

[72targa]

VIN Reference = 119300638

[gulf908]

thx Lorenzo

some interesting reading in that
my take is that Hahn were the main dealer for the Stuttgart area
they have given Strahle a 12.5% sales discount to sell the car
were Strahle a sub dealer in the Wurtemburg area at the time or a just Porsche specialist outlet with occasional sales ?
this does not look like a customer's invoice

cheers
Dennis

[HughH]

Dennis

Hahn (at Fellbach) 115 were one of the 6 main Handlers (distributors) for Germany. Each handler had their own group of retailers. In 1973 (for which I have data) Hahn had 38 different retailers of which Strahle at Schorndorf was one. So if you were in Schorndorf you would place an order with Strahle, who in turn would place it with Hahn 115 who in turn would feed it into the factory and then the car would go to Hahn the wholesaler/ handler, then to Strahle, the retailer and then to the customer. Hahn also had a (separate) retail arm which dealt with the public around Stuttgart / Fellbach which in turn had to go through the Hahn 115 handler to place orders

Just like Hamilton's Australia and New Zealand was the local handler (importer / distributor) and the various dealers around Australia and New Zealand were the retailers, including Hamilton Melbourne which was (is still as Porsche Cars Melbourne) a separate legal entity to the importer / handler (now called Porsche Cars Australia) even though they are in the same building

[911MRP]

Similar in UK at one time AFN ( Archie Fraser Nash) were the sole Porsche concessionaire for UK and NI as well as being one of the retailers in the UK official dealer network. Co located both at the Falcon Works London Road Isleworth at one time . Later they split the operation between Porsche Cars Great Britain ( concessionaire) and AFN Ltd ( retail and after sales) albeit the Aldingtion family were in control of both. Following the formation of the 50:50 international sales and marketing operation VW-Porsche VG for Europe (and some other parts of world) the next generation of the Aldingtons who still owned the sole import rights saw a threat of being displaced by that multinational JV. Risk to their long held sole concessionaire deal here ( they had once been UK BMW importer among others and had lost that). So in a canny political move they invited Ferry Porsche to be on the Porsche Cars GB Board and in doing so kept control of the UK concessionaire away from the broader VG JV. Although it was in some way associated to VW-Porsche from late sixties for a few years through that deft formal agreement with the main man at Porsche they’d kept control of the Porsche marque for the UKI market and soon saw rapid growth. Far outstripping other marques Fraser Nash etc That growth and the need for inheritance tax planning as the original elder three Aldington brothers approached retirement age I believe is what led to more formal structure splitting the concessionaire from the retail. This restructuring early 70s together with need for more space than was available at London Road saw part of the business move to the nearby (closed) Isleworth film studios location ( the lot where Bogart and Hepburn filmed Africa Queen the movie — accidentally releasing non native green parquets that still noisily swarm London ) for one part of the integrated business. It had for some time been loosely segregated within London Road but the move made the legal structure more physically evident . Staff were then allocated to one or other more clearly. Eventually the Porsche GB concessionaire moved the HQ west down the M4 to Reading area and the retailer moved to Chiswick ( and its other branch at Guildford Surrey not far from location of Mike Hawthorns fatal accident ) Both of retail sites later got the shiny grey silver gin-palace Porsche corporate makeover. London Road the elegant but aging former factory built by the Aldingtons for Fraser Nash production in the early part of 20th century but with ever more ramshackle additions the falcon Works site remained owned by the family persisted for a while. It still was possible to get work done on old Porsche if you knew the right folks. Long before Classic they sometimes did work on the more specialised older cars — for example they did work on my RS during my early ownership long after the Chiswick retail and service site opened. Some of the older more experienced old guard were still there and they liked to see a 20 year old example if the 100 or so rhd RS show up. I wouldn’t darken the doors oc the Chiswick AFN retailer — I remember the parts counter man asking “what’s a Carrera RS?” when I went to collect some part I’d ordered! My car still has its tax disc holder branded with “sole Porsche concessionaire” and on back it shows London Road phone and telex contacts. On its windscreen five a neat decades old item. The same tax disc holder that appears on the original road test press fleet RS photo of the first ever rhd RS magazine test.

The discount mentioned in other posts was the same here if invoicing from the concessionaire to their own sister retail arm or indeed invoicing one of the other retailers in the official Porsche network. Sadly London Road the historic Fraser Nash factory building was demolished and is now a billing flats. The structure of the national or regional concessionaire and its official network of retail and servicing dealers can be seen and deduced in the booklet listing the country number system is shown. If filled in correctly it’s the retailer number that was used on the maintenance book at new and each has a rating 1 -3 stars showing what type and level of service they were capable of and equipped to provide. Be it retail of Porsche only and or basic car servicing right through to the most major work on Porsche with rolling road and body pulling more specialist equipment for bodywork. The Aldingtons next generation sold it to Porsche AG in eighties not sure if AFN is still seen or its just Porsche Centre as said never venture near the place. Not did my pal who started his well known eponymous specialist Porsche repair shop in 74 despite being a couple of miles away he got his official parts form another more distant but much more reliable dealer in the official network — this was a consequence of him holding a very dim view of AFN for parts supply. Pity as with that heritage here AFN should have been the best but he told me they were far from it.

Incidentally more directly relevant to the thread I have (somewhere) an original blank German invoice proforma with ink pad stamp with company name that is of no real use to me — so might offer this rarity for sale.

[Lorenzo]

Paul Ernst Strähle was more than a simple retailer for Porsche. And some of the cars He bought were converted for racing purpose. By the way Strähle ( and now his son ) organise tha annual Porsche collectors swap meeting near Stuttgart. It is worth to read his story which I copied from the Porsche website:

Dr. Ing h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is mourning the death of Paul Ernst Strähle, one of the most successful and best-known racing drivers during the 1950s and 1960s. Paul Ernst Strähle died last Wednesday at the age of 83 in Schorndorf, his place of birth. Wolfgang Dürheimer, Executive Vice President for Research and Development at Porsche, paid tribute to the deceased racing driver: “Paul Ernst Strähle was one of the most important and most versatile motorsport pioneers in post-war Germany. Through his success in numerous international races, he became a leading ambassador for German autosport. Porsche has lost a long-standing friend and companion who actively supported the company and particularly our motor sports department from its beginnings up to the present day.”


Paul Ernst Strähle was born in Schorndorf on September 20, 1927 as the son of the Swabian aviation pioneer Paul Strähle. After the end of the Second World War, he successfully completed a mechanical and commercial apprenticeship in his parents‘ car and motorcycle business which he then built up into a successful Volkswagen and Porsche dealership in the following years. From 1951 onwards, Paul Ernst Strähle also devoted himself to motorsport with great passion: he achieved his first successes, including a class victory in the “Mille Miglia”, in his VW Beetle that was dubbed “Dapferle“ and was fitted with a Porsche engine. He became one of the most successful sports car racing drivers in Europe in the Porsche 356 from the second half of the 1950s onwards. His long list of victories included countless class wins in major races such as the “Mille Miglia“ in Italy, the 1000 Kilometre Race on the Nürburgring or the “Targa Florio” in Sicily. Among his most important rally successes were overall victories in the Adria Rally (1953, 1956), the Tour of Belgium (1957), the Liège-Rome-Liège Rally (1959) and the Tour of Corsica (1960).


The former German Motor Racing Champion (1955), European Rally Vice Champion (1956) and German Rally Champion (1958) ended his active motorsport career in 1963 in order to concentrate more on his flourishing car dealership. In 1966, however, he set up the racing team “Strähle Autosport“ which achieved numerous successes with Porsche models in various race series over a period of almost three decades. From 1977 onwards, Paul Ernst Strähle also dedicated himself to historical motorsport. In his famous Porsche 356 A Carrera with the registration number “WN-V2”, he became a highlight of many classic car events in which he naturally came out on top as the winner on numerous occasions.

Paul Ernst Strähle had a close relationship with Porsche right up until old age. He was a regular guest at events in the new Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen where last year, for example, he presented his Porsche 356 “V2” racing car as a loan item.

GO

Information: Accredited journalists can find photos of Paul Ernst Strähle in the Porsche Press Database on the website http://presse.porsche.de/.

10/28/2010